Help Dave Rally to Recovery

Hello, our names are Robin and Al Alda, and we are long-time friends of Dave and Monique Hennings. Our family has created this fundraiser in hopes of raising money and supporting the Hennings Family during a challenging time. The money raised from this GoFund Me will be utilized to pay necessary medical bills and help their family with their living expenses.

Dave and Monique have owned Edelweiss Delicatessen for over 30 years where they have served the Kings Park community. Edelweiss Delicatessen is a traditional German deli and caterer located in Kings Park, NY that is loved by many not only for their great food but also, for their exceptional customer service. Currently, due to Dave's health condition, he is unable to work. Monique has shared with us the challenges they have faced over the last several years. Any support that you can offer this family would be extremely helpful and greatly appreciated!

In 2018, Dave was diagnosed with a very rare form of Mantle Cell Lymphoma, a type of Non-Hodgkin’s. Only 3-4% of all lymphomas are mantle cell. He also has a mutated P53 gene, which is present in only 10% of mantle cell lymphomas. There is no known cure or a standard protocol of treatment, therefore all cases are considered trials.

 

In 2020, he went through six months of chemotherapy and was declared in remission. He was then recommended for a stem cell transplant as his best option. He was scheduled to start that process in January 2021, but came down with Covid. Fortunately, he did not develop the most serious Covid symptoms, but it left him with chronic weakness and fatigue. He finally tested negative in April.

 

In May 2021, he was admitted to the hospital for what was supposed to be a six-day stay for high-dose chemotherapy to prepare for the stem cell transplant. But he developed several complications, including pneumonia, and was in the hospital for a month. It was during this stay that a mass in his kidney (that for decades was thought to be a kidney stone since the size never changed) was found to have grown.

 

Following his release, he had to be seen every few days for a check-up and bloodwork. He consistently registered very low blood pressure, which was strange after years of taking medication to control very high blood pressure. He also was maintaining an elevated temperature. He was told it was related to the chemo and he needed to drink more fluids. He then began to have diarrhea.

 

The diarrhea continued to worsen over the next few weeks even though he was eating very little. Still, they kept saying to eat bland food and drink plenty of fluids. He was finally told to take Imodium AD. It seemed to help for a couple of days. Luckily, that was when the kidney mass biopsy had been scheduled, so he was able to get that done. But then suddenly, the diarrhea came back and this time it was explosive and unbearable. On July 4, he had to be taken by ambulance to the emergency room.

 

He was admitted to the ICU with a C-Diff infection, E. coli, and extreme dehydration. For the next couple of days, treatment seemed to be helping, but on July 8 he crashed. The infection was out of control and his organs were beginning to shut down. He needed emergency colorectal and ileostomy surgery, but the surgeon said he was at very high risk of dying during surgery, and that even if he survived the surgery, it might not work to save him. To add to the bad news, that very same day the kidney biopsy came back positive for Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma, a second cancer.

 

Against the odds, he pulled through the surgery. He spent a couple of days on a ventilator. It was touch and go, with many complications over the next few weeks, until doctors felt comfortable that he was actually going to survive. He was in the hospital for two months, including three weeks in a rehab hospital receiving intensive physical and occupational therapy. He returned home in an extremely debilitated state. He had lost about 100 pounds and all muscle tone. He was confined to the first floor and required the use of a walker, although even getting up from the bed was an exhausting process. An ostomy care nurse and a physical therapist visited regularly for several weeks. Although he has made great progress since, he is still considered to be in recovery and has a long road ahead to regain his former strength and stamina, even accounting for the cancer.

 

C-Diff is a common infection that is picked up at hospitals. It is clear Dave got it from the first hospital stay. Dave was immuno-compromised, had been receiving chemotherapy, and had been on heavy-duty antibiotics to fight pneumonia, all conditions that make someone extra susceptible to a C-Diff infection. He also had been presenting C-Diff symptoms for several weeks after he left the hospital. People with C-Diff should never take Imodium AD as it makes the condition much worse. His doctor should have been on the lookout for a possible C-Diff infection and caught it long before it became life-threatening. It was actually Monique’s uncle, a pulmonologist in Indiana, who on hearing what was happening to Dave insisted he needed to get to the hospital immediately because he was sure he had C-Diff. Having lost trust in his oncologist, the decision was made to switch to Memorial Sloan-Kettering. The difference in quality of care has been remarkable.

 

Dave has a team of new doctors, including an expert in mantle cell lymphoma who did not recommend he continue with the stem cell transplant. MSK has found that cases like Dave’s do not respond well to that treatment, and it could cause more harm than good. Ironically, the C-Diff infection spared him from going through a long, difficult, and unnecessary procedure.

 

The lymphoma was still in remission, so the focus turned to the cancer in his kidney. It was a large 8cm tumor, and surgery was recommended to remove the entire kidney. He began chemotherapy to target stray cancer cells and to try to reduce the size of the tumor to make surgery easier. However, Dave did not respond well to the chemotherapy. He developed severe neuropathy in his feet, and his blood levels and kidney function were becoming compromised. He also faced a second round with Covid in January, which caused more weight loss and added to the already extreme weakness and fatigue. Since they found the tumor had shrunk very little, chemotherapy was stopped early, and he was scheduled for the surgery.

 

Unfortunately, in the pre-op scans, they discovered small growths in his lungs that had not been present just the month before. The suspicion is that the cancer has metastasized from the kidney. There is a lesser chance it is related to the lymphoma. It could also be a third cancer altogether, or even a slight possibility that it is Covid-related. The kidney surgery has been cancelled for now, and a biopsy is scheduled for March 7. If they find the cancer from the kidney has spread to his lungs, they will not do the surgery. He will most likely start immunotherapy instead. The benefit of immunotherapy is that it would target all the cancers.